An Update from Fedway

As most of you know, Hurricane Sandy dealt a “near” knockout blow to our South Kearny facility last week. Our corporate office and warehouse building were hit with 10-foot tidal surges, and as a result, our infrastructure and inventories were severely compromised. That’s the bad news, and we are already past the “why us” stage and well into the recovery.

In a remarkable show of strength and unity, the entire company has responded in an unprecedented fashion. Drivers, warehouseman, salespeople, clerical workers, supervisors and managers have been working side by side, 24 hours a day since last Friday. In fact, dozens of Fedway customers have also volunteered to help in the project, and we are truly grateful and sincerely appreciative from the outpouring of support we have received. We are now working 3-8 hour shifts per day with over 150 people on each shift and making remarkable progress. We have contracted a 190,000 square foot warehouse 200 yards from our main building and have already begun receiving replacement inventory. In short, we are on our way back!

But you are naturally interested in “when are they going to ship and what are they going to ship?” Although we can’t give a definitive timeline yet, we can tell you the following: It is our intention to begin delivery the week of November 19th and increase our capacity and inventory levels every day thereafter until we resume normal activity the first week in December. All of our exclusive brands will roll prices forward from November to December and we have requested that our suppliers recommend rolling multiple items forward to remove the buy-in in November. This should also assist the retail trade as many of you are also digging out both physically and financially from the effects of the storm.

So to summarize, we are making rapid and significant progress. We intend to begin shipping the week of November 19th and hope to be in full operation the first week in December. We will roll prices forward from November to December on all exclusives and hope to do the same on many multiples. You have our commitment to do everything in our power to address the issues we face together. Please go to our Facebook page for daily updates and do not hesitate to communicate with your salesperson or sales manager if you have specific concerns and we will do our best to respond promptly.

Once again, thank you for your concern, patience and support. On behalf of every single FEDWAY FAMILY member, we are truly grateful.